some photography, anyone?

[Kalessin@eworld.com]

Ok, so I was just signed up on this list and I've read my first 4 or 5 posts,
which seem to be dealing with a couple of folks who disagree on Life, The
Universe, and Everything Leica. And choose to yak about it with everyone
listening on.

Is anyone on here doing any photography lately?

A meandering introduction.

Last year, in a fit of desire and 'yea I can finally, barely afford it'
insanity, I decided that I'd wanted a Leica M for long enough and managed to
find a nice kit of Leica M4-P, 28/50/90mm lenses. I'm delighted with it, the
pictures it takes are wonderful. I've got plenty of other cameras, including
a couple of Nikon SLRs, but whenever I go to grab a 'good' camera for my
usual type of 'real photography' picturetaking, I grab for the M nowadays. It
put a major dent in my Toy Fund (likely crippling it completely for all of
'96!) but since I think I'll be owning it for a very long time to come, I
don't mind.

Often, though, I want to carry just a lightweight, small camera for travel
and other purposes. I demand good lenses that can take a great picture. I
have a Rollei 35S for when I want complete manual control, I have a Nikon
35Ti for when automation is convenient. There are a couple of other compact
PnS cameras in the closet as well, just for snaps. But I decided that I
wanted one of them with a zoom lens. I was so impressed with the results of
the Mini II that a friend of mine bought a couple of years ago that I coughed
up the bux for a Minizoom. I've run 4 or 5 rolls of film through it now and
I'm more than pleased with what I purchased. The lens is a little slow but
extremely sharp, the viewfinder is clean and crisp and the exposure modes are
really nicely thought out. I wish it had a remote release of some kind for
use on Bulb settings and a tripod, that's all. A perfect 'toss it in the bag
and go' camera for my needs.

So, with all this nice new equipment, I'm interested in knowing what kind of
photography the folks on this list are doing. Is there a picture server that
y'all have been using that contains some examples of your work? I have been
using Kodak's services to PhotoCD a few of my rolls, I have a B&W flatbed
scanner and am planning on buying a film scanner when I can afford it for
some really high quality digital darkroomery. It's so much easier to find the
time for digital photo fun than to set up my printing gear nowadays.

About me: I've been around photography for almost 30 years at this point,
made at least a supplementary income from it once upon a time. Over the past
year, I've gotten interested in doing it more seriously again as a form of
expression and fun rather than just doing nice snaps on vacation and at
parties. I try not to get too geeky about the techie bits although I am a toy
freak, as most photo hobbyists seem to be. We can all seem to drop into
techno-whizz jargon at the drop of a hat, but as I was taught years ago: that
ain't really photography, it's the other side, the techno-joy. A balance of
both parts of this study is what I'm aiming for, without snobbery or
penis-size taking precedence over discussions of the art and technology.

Love to hear from you.

Godfrey